Chemical Leak Leaves Five Injured at Apple's Data Center in Maiden, North Carolina

Five people were injured at Apple's data center in Maiden, North Carolina after being exposed to a chemical leak. The leak was reported at approximately 1:52pm ET and hazmat crews immediately responded to the call. All five injured were taken to Catawba Valley Medical Center, but have since been discharged.

Five workers at our Maiden data center were taken to a local hospital following possible exposure to fumes, which may have been released during a spill of a chemical used to clean the cooling systems. All five were discharged and will return to work tomorrow. The spill was quickly contained and poses no threat to anyone else at the facility.

While Apple did not specifically mention which chemical had leaked, local news reports indicate that it was chlorine.

The incident follows the fire that broke out in Apple's Mesa, Arizona facility last week. Thankfully, no one was injured in that incident.

Apple's Maiden, North Carolina data center generates 167 million kilowat-hours of renewable energy per year -- enough to power the equivalent of 13,837 homes. Apple granted NBC an exclusive tour of the data center last year.

All the workers were supposedly illegal and not under OSHA/labor compliance. Bad, bad, bad. Lucky no one got killed or had additional problems. You would think Apple would have more sense to verify their employees.